A pop a day keeps boredom away!

A few days ago, my husband mentioned that he’d been reading this blog and had noticed me adding sugar to a few of the recipes. Quite reasonably, he requested that if I was going to be feeding the kids ice pops every single day, that I go easy on added sugars. I mentally delayed my plans for thin mint ice pops again, and decided to spend at least the next few days focusing on healthy treats.

Later that night, I was scanning Pinterest, and I came across a link to The Green Monster Movement. It’s a sub-blog about green smoothies, made with spinach or kale, milk, flax seed and fruit. I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand, so I made the kids a Green Monster smoothie for breakfast the next morning. They loved it so much, and there was so much left over, that I decided to see if they’d like Green Monster ice pops as much:

Grrr. Argh.

As it happens, they did.

My Green Monsters were as basic as it gets:

Nothing screams "dessert" like spinach and flax meal

Just milk, spinach, ground flax seed and a banana. The resulting pops had no vegetable flavor at all; just a very mild banana taste. If I were to make them again, I’d probably add more and different fruits for a stronger flavor. Or maybe almond milk. Or coconut milk. Or maybe I’d decorate them with sliced bananas (I actually meant to do that this time, but I got distracted and forgot). There are actually lots of possibilities here, and all of them are pretty healthy. I would definitely not want a spinach ice pop every day, but as an occasional novelty, it’s ok.

I find it interesting that by and large, my kids seem happy with ice pops made entirely with fruits (or vegetables). The pops themselves are treat enough; they don’t seem to need decadent ingredients. I’m the one that tends to think that our healthier pops need a shot of flavor or sugar to jazz them up. Not that I think the kids would turn down something like a cannoli pop (one idea I am DYING to try), but they’re perfectly satisfied with pureed spinach in a pop. Sometimes I find it hard to believe I made these kids.

Tomorrow: either a 90s-throwback flavor or my first attempt at an alcoholic pop. I haven’t decided yet.

Comments on: "Day 6 — Green Monster Smoothie Ice Pops" (1)

[…] few days ago, a friend asked me why I don’t make more veggie ice pops. True, I did make a Green Monster ice pop way back in the beginning, but since then I have stuck largely to fruit and other sweets. […]